El Castillo de Cardona

On Sunday, another town nearby was having a mushroom festival as well. Rosa and Francisco had happily agreed to take me and so we set off at around 11am for Cardona. Cardona is about the size of Solsona but boasts an amazing old castle, from the Romanic period. We went right into the casco antiguo and milled around for a bit taking in the sites. Sunday is also the day of their open air market, so in addition to the mushroom festivities, their were also all the vegetable stands and clothing and artisan craft tables. It was very busy and alive. One stand was offering free coca y chocolate. Coca is a really delicious sweet bread that I have tried, but I've never had it with chocolate. Rosa tells me it is a very typical breakfast to have on Sunday, as it is sweet and rich and not for normal days. So we got in line so that I could try it. The chocolate is meant to be a drink, but is much better for dunking as it is very thick, almost like a pudding, and served hot. But alas! They ran out when I was just one person away from reaching the goal. Rosa ducked up front quickly and must have said something about how I was an American and had never had it before, sob sob sob, and they scraped the bottom of the barrel and I managed to get a taste. It was extremely rich and I don't think I could have made it through a full cup anyway, but it was yummy! There was the most adorable little boy that was practically climbing inside of his cup of chocolate – I couldn't resist taking his picture!

We then climbed up to the castle. There was a spectacular view from the top and the structure itself was remarkable to behold. There is a tower at the top that is called the torre de la minyona which means the "tower of the naughty girl". Apparently some duke had a daughter that he wanted to marry to some guy, likely a match that would be to his advantage, but his daughter refused so he locked her in the tower. Whenever I get lost in the fairytale of how romantic it would have been to be alive “back then” I should remember things like this and thank my lucky stars that I am a woman of the 21st century. Before heading home for comida we stopped in at a little bar for a quick snack – they call it tomando un vermouth even though we didn't drink vermouth. In the past, having a glass of vermouth in the late morning before eating was common and so the name has stuck though now it is used to describe having a snack or an appetizer before eating. We had fried calamaria and small chilled clams marinated in lemon juice and salt.

And now it is Monday, and back to the work week. But first, disfrutan las fotos!